The Pithy Amateur Astronomer

Earlier I posted a mosaic celebrating APOD's 15th birthday. Now they have released a mosaic of The Blue Marble.

It is very neat to look up close and try to identify the various images used to compile this mosaic.

Source: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100713.html
Credit: Apollo 17 Crew, NASA; Photographic Mosaic & Digital Copyright: Rob Stevenson

Explanation: Welcome to Planet Earth, the third planet from a star named the Sun. The Earth is shaped like a sphere and composed mostly of rock. Over 70 percent of the Earth's surface is water. The planet has a relatively thin atmosphere composed mostly of nitrogen and oxygen. This picture of Earth, dubbed Blue Marble, was taken from Apollo 17 in 1972 and features Africa and Antarctica. It is thought to be one of the most widely distributed photographs of any kind. Here, the world famous image has been recast as a spectacular photomosaic using over 5,000 archived images of Earth and space. With its abundance of liquid water, Earth supports a large variety of life forms, including potentially intelligent species such as dolphins and humans. Please enjoy your stay on Planet Earth.  

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/newsreleases/newsrelease20100329/

Source: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1621.html

I made a post a few weeks ago about "Bigfoot on Mars" and how I personally see it as a Tuscan Raider from Star Wars. Well, sticking to that same silly thought pattern, this can be called Jabba the Hutt.

Finally there was a break in the weather and I was able to go outside and observe the moon and Saturn.

Unfortunatly, Saturn was not very photogenic tonight. However, I do I have a picture of the moon for your viewing pleasure.

Just for informational purposes, the moon phase was waxing crescent. My favorite feature is where the light meets the dark. There is more definition on the craters in my honest opinion.